Straight North

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the accounting and office manager at an HVAC installation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed their team’s SEO expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North helps maintain and optimize our website and tracks our Google hits. Every month, they show us our Google hits progress, whether it’s been up or down. They come up with strategies and give us suggestions for blogs for our website. 

What is the team composition?

I deal with one teammate, Katie (Account Manager)

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Straight North has met every monthly goal each month; the quality of their work is top-notch. All their suggestions have been awesome. We were very impressed with their initial presentation.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North has met all the deadlines, and Katie is always in communication with me. We communicate through email and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do everything well. The prior company we worked with didn’t take the initiative that Straight North does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I recommend having an initial meeting with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a client representative for a third-party logistics provider. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We were looking for an updated modern website, so we hired Straight North. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Straight North a general idea of what we were looking for and notes about the content we wanted on the site. The website has multiple pages, links to our inventory management system, and a place for customers to contact us. The team also provided SEO and wrote content for the website. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about seven people, including Natalie (Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Straight North?

We found them through Clutch. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between June 2022–April 2023, but there were delays on our end that caused the engagement to go longer. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve had very positive internal feedback and seen an increase in leads since the launch. Overall, we’re pleased with the outcome of the site and how it’s working. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Things were delayed a bit, but that wasn’t Straight North’s fault. The team stayed within budget despite the delay and was very accommodating. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The process was smooth, and the team was flexible and responsive. When we had any issues, Straight North was able to solve them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing we can come up with. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Reach out to your project manager if you have any questions. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Specialist of (a/an) Business services

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a global systems integrator focused on delivering results for our customers through unparalleled service excellence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Bring our cost per acquisition down to around $100
• Increase market share
• Stabilize our account and make steady progress

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Online Search

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing first our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We brought on Straight North to help manage our Google ad account. It had been passed around on our team for a while and was not delivering consistent results. This was a large deliverable that was expected, as well as achieving our previous goals. We run ads for just our company in a competitive industry and have anywhere from 8 - 10 campaign groups live.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• We have reached and stayed within our $100 Cost per acquisition range
• We have increased our market share
• Our overall impressions have continue to go up

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

This team has been very responsive! Sara has always been a good point of communication for us and when small mistakes were made she was quick to fix them. We have monthly meetings and go over our progress and Sara always takes time to make sure we have time to chat about our own ideas or concerns. I feel like this is the best our Google ad account has ever been handled and they have proven to be real experts in this area.

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We're impressed with the consistency of their work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Not that I can think of. If any issues have arisen they were always handled promptly. I think Straight North has done a great job!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sales Manager of a cold storage service company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We rent our refrigerated containers and trailers to businesses who need to store temprature sensitive products/materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Enhance our digital footprint
• Increase traffic to our website

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Online Search

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Straight North’s team?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

By creating target words, back links, and campaigns we were able to drive more traffic to our website creating more leads for sales.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• website page clicks
• Website leads generated

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Justin has been a great partner for our company. We have done quite a lot of website tailoring and customizing to fit our needs. All efforts to meet the requirements have been prompt and accurate. We really enjoy working with Justin and his expertise makes for a simple yet efficient relationship with Straight North.

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The Straight North Dashboard that breaks down all our data and metrics is a tool that has been very valuable. We enjoy running throught all the objective data weekly to see where we can improve and identify what we are doing well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Any issues that we have are presented to our account manager (Justin) and then promptly rectified so nothing to report at this time,

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department director for an HVAC and plumbing company comprising a network of local HVAC and plumbing businesses across the country. In my role, I’m responsible for driving the SEO and content strategy and performance for all of our branches across the network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed someone to provide us with SEO services to help drive our organic search performance. Our ultimate goal was to capture the attention of searchers for our services and drive them to our sites to ultimately convert into leads for the business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North helps us drive our content strategy and create new and refreshed content across our websites. Initially, we provided them with a brief, and we went through a scoping process to get aligned on the deliverables and expected outcomes.

Thus far, Straight North has worked on 10 different websites across our network, including our main website and nine local websites. For every website, they initially do a foundational analysis and some audits to better understand its current strengths and weaknesses from a content and technical perspective.

Once Straight North completes the initial analysis, they send us their findings and recommendations on how to address some opportunities. From there on, they provide us with monthly recommendations for on-page content updates. Their scope includes keyword research and content ideation.

When we approve Straight North’s recommendations, they go ahead and create the content for us to review and ultimately publish on our websites. In addition to that, they provide us with follow-up reporting and analysis on how our content updates are performing. This part of the process also includes competitor analysis.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 5–6 people from Straight North, most of whom work behind the scenes. We mainly collaborate with the account manager, but they sometimes bring a subject matter expert (SME) into the conversation.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

My company started working with Straight North before I joined, so I’m not completely sure how that relationship started.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $25,000 per month. However, our budget has increased over time. In total, we’ve spent close to $600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around June 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The main KPIs we use to evaluate Straight North’s performance are our increases in organic leads and revenue. As secondary indicators, we look at organic traffic and page-one keyword coverage growth for our target keywords. Although I can’t share specific numbers, I know that our partnership has grown since I joined because they’ve helped us drive good performance on our sites.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North delivers on time and within budget. They use their own proprietary tool for reporting called Go North; however, we don’t use it because we haven’t found value in it. Additionally, we communicate via email and virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Straight North has a strong content strategy and focus.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve identified two areas of opportunity for Straight North. On the one hand, their reporting cadence and level of detail could be improved. We feel like we’re not getting proper data analysis and reporting from them.

On the other hand, I’ve only worked with Straight North’s account manager. However, I’m used to working with other SEO agencies on status calls where the account manager, an SME, and 2–3 people who actually do the job participate. I feel that only working with the account manager creates additional layers of feedback, making it cumbersome to get an answer. Therefore, it would be great if Straight North included more people on the calls.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand upfront what type of reporting and analysis you want from the agency, as well as what type of strategic approach. Based on that, ask Straight North the proper questions to ensure that they’ll provide the level of detail you want from their reporting and analysis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a director at a custom-label manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? 

I inherited our relationship with Straight North from the previous director in my position. However, I believe we initially contacted Straight North for our website’s redesign, and they’ve been offering web management and SEO services since then.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an ongoing relationship with Straight North. They offer us web management and SEO services. Although I’ve only been working with Straight North for 10–11, I know they’ve managed PPC campaigns for us in the past. Straight North has also updated our company’s website using information from a previous site. The site is hosted in Drupal, and we’ve talked about changing it to WordPress in the future. 

Moreover, Straight North manages our backlinking strategy and creates monthly blog posts. They send me their content for approval, and I review each post and make any required changes before they publish it. Straight North also helps us with keyword research and on-page optimization — they update our site’s copy to optimize our SEO. 

Moreover, Straight North advises about our SEO strategy. For instance, I recently asked them if backlinking was still relevant with Google’s algorithm's continuous updates. Straight North has explained the relevance of backlinking and how they still help determine a page's ranking. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Michelle (Account Manager) on an ongoing basis. We also work with Ian (VP of Sales). 

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I’m unsure how we initially found Straight North since I wasn’t involved in that process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly fee with Straight North of $3000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Straight North in March 2013, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our site’s performance has been improving working with Straight North. We’ve had a web traffic increase of 5.5% year-over-year (YoY). Our target page’s traffic has also increased by 41% YoY. Our search rankings for some of our target keywords have also increased to the first results page.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North meets deadlines and stays on budget. They have their own project management tool, where I can access our project’s dashboard and see what they’re working on and the completed tasks. 

Moreover, Straight North sends monthly reports with detailed information about our site’s performance and SEO ranking. We communicate through email and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with Straight North’s work consistency. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I joined the project, I had an extensive conversation with Michelle, where we discussed what Straight North had done for our company and the current projects’ status. I’d like to have more of those strategic conversations throughout our engagement. Maybe meet at the beginning of the year to analyze the previous year’s results and see what we succeed in and what we need to change. 

Moreover, it would also be great to have updates about the Google algorithm’s changes and updates. I create organic content for our social media and blog, and it would be great if Straight North could give me insights to help improve our SEO with that content too. I wish we had a more collaborative partnership.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend staying in touch with your account manager from Straight North and ensuring you stay on top of the aspects that are important to you. For instance, I ask Michelle a lot of questions. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and communications at an education system. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed help with paid search advertising and SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a discovery phase where Straight North researched our local areas and the types of programs we advertised to. As we’ve expanded to add online program opportunities, they’ve adapted their research to be nationwide and made other changes based on our needs. We have a small admissions team, so they’ve also been helping us generate leads and run campaigns as needed.

Straight North has also given us a list of target keywords to improve our SEO. They’ve also helped with link building, blog writing, and updating our pages with keywords to improve our rankings. We had to start over with our rankings when we decided to change our business name, so they also supported us through that process.

In terms of PPC, they primarily help with Google Ads. They’ve helped with the verbiage and created landing pages for our advertising. They’ve also helped us adapt our criminal justice program due to changes within the national criminal justice system. For example, many places no longer require a college degree to become a police officer, so we’ve had to adjust our keywords to attract more people. 

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with an onboarding team, but now we work with an account manager, our sole point of contact.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I found them through online research. I liked their proposal and that they’d worked with other education systems. They were also a cost-effective option. 

How much have you invested with them?

We pay $2,000 monthly for SEO services, and the paid search fee varies depending on our ad spend. We pay Straight North 15% of our monthly ad spend. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2018, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve had a successful partnership with Straight North. Since working together, we’ve seen a consistent decrease in cost per lead (CPL) for our paid search. We’ve also seen increases across the board for our different programs due to SEO. Over time, we’ve improved our total enrollment thanks to Straight North’s support. 

Additionally, they did a great job managing our rankings when we changed our name. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed very well concerning project management. Our account manager is always available to take our calls, and she gets everything done quickly. Straight North provides monthly ad reports; we also have a weekly call to discuss ongoing updates. We typically communicate via email and phone. We also use Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with their customer service. Straight North is always willing to think of new ideas and be flexible to our changes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Selfishly, everything could always be cheaper, but Straight North has fair pricing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with Straight North regularly. How much you’re paying them is how much they'll do, so check things yourself if you feel the need. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing assistant for a company that sells ultrasonic flow measurement devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Straight North?

We wanted to increase the volume of our website traffic. In particular, we wanted to rank better on a few specific keywords.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Straight North mapped out our keywords and tried to get a better picture of our company in the industry and where we stood competitively. With that information, they’ve prioritized keywords and helped us find which pages we want to optimize.

Straight North has laid out a plan and optimized various pages on our website. They’ve also rewritten some of the content pages, run Google Ads, and tried to get backlinks for us on other websites. Finally, Straight North has made technical recommendations related to indexation.

What was the team composition?

We have a complete team working on the project, but we’re only in contact with Greg (Lead Frontend Developer).

How did you come to work with Straight North?

My boss researched and found them online; he even read some Clutch reviews about their work. Afterward, we met with Greg and someone else from their team and decided to start working with Straight North right away.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2022, and it’s an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve definitely seen an improvement in some of the biggest keywords we wanted to target. Before, we were nowhere to be found, but we’re now on the second page. Moreover, some searches are now on the first page, like flow meter.

In addition, we’ve seen an increase in website traffic. We also had the most forms filled out in January 2023.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is excellent. Straight North lays out in advance which tests they’ll do each month. They also have a great reporting dashboard where we can see what they’ve completed and what’s in progress and check by month, status, test category, and more.

We have weekly and monthly meetings with the project manager. We mainly use Zoom, but we communicate whenever it's needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re forward with the reporting. The team shows us their progress and is always willing to accept feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could do more technical tests sporadically, although that doesn’t cause any issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to do some research and talk to them about all the areas you can find on their dashboard because it’s very extensive. If you know how to read it, you’ll have everything you need whenever you want it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Legacy Recovery Center. We’re an in-patient behavioral health facility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed a website and SEO services for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North created our WordPress website from scratch. We won’t begin our SEO efforts until next year, but we’ll continue with their services to do our SEO. They’ll work on keyword research and backlinks.

What is the team composition?

We had 5–6 teammates involved with the website development. However, we primarily worked with Natalie (Email Marketing Specialist); she was the team lead.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

We searched online for multiple companies that provided the services we needed. We looked at the competitors’ performance and found that Straight North performed the best.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $13,500 on the website. We haven’t paid for SEO because we haven’t begun, but we signed a year-long contract at $7,500 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in January 2022. We scheduled to finish the website in May, but our physical property burned down, so we put a hold on the project. In total, it took about six months, but they delivered the website in August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The website went live recently, and Straight North gave us what we wanted. We told them our vision, and they created all that and made any edits we wanted. Overall, we were pleased with the website's high quality.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

They were professional, timely, responsive, and easy to work with. We communicated through email and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, they stood out for their analytics and performance. The website and SEO they’d done for the competitor were performing very high, so we reached out to them. Then, their dedication, communication, and professionalism were outstanding. They didn’t try to sell us something they couldn’t deliver; they were straightforward and transparent, so we felt they were trustworthy. All in all, Straight North gained our trust, and they demonstrated their success with their work for other companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything; we were pleased with all our interactions, and their quality of work was excellent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be direct and communicate effectively about what you’re looking for. If you don’t tell them exactly what you want, they can’t be held accountable for not delivering it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of managed care, PHO, and wellness for UnityPoint Health and Optimum Health Solutions in Peoria, Illinois. Optimum Health Solutions is a particular business unit we own. It’s a corporate worksite wellness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We’d never compiled a website for marketing purposes for the Optimum Health Solutions unit.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We solicited help from Straight North to put together a website. After filling out our statement of work, we agreed on the services we’d purchase and had a kick-off meeting with them. We described our company and went into great detail about what we do and the services we provide. Then, they started drafting the content for our website.

They built the website from scratch, doing design and development work. We developed the website to drive business when people search for our various service lines. We worked closely with Straight North to describe those service lines and what they do, and they wrote the content for us. We spent some time reviewing the content and ensuring it fulfilled our message and what we were trying to get across to potential customers.

Also, we later decided we wanted to have them develop a new logo, which wasn’t in the original scope. We had a logo when they showed us the website’s first draft; we thought the site looked great, but the logo looked awful. We went back to the team and asked them if their graphic designers could give us some options. We had the colors we’d use, but we gave them free rein to come up with alternatives. They developed four logos; we picked one and moved forward from there.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Natalie (Project Manager) and Matthew (Vice President, Sales), who were our main contacts. They worked with people internally on their team.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I knew Matthew. We started discussing their services and if they could assist us with website design. Then, they put together a package of material related to their services, including a financial proposal. We went through the process locally with our CFO and gained approval for the project.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $22,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2019 and launched in July 2022. Currently, they’re doing maintenance and training on adjustments. Additionally, we hope to engage them for business development services in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We were pleased with everything they did for us. The quality of their work was exceptional, and the team was highly professional and timely in their communication. Since we have complicated processes, we’d had trouble before developing content that wasn’t too complicated for the end user. However, their writers did an excellent job. We sent them a ton of information, and they turned it into nice, concise summaries — the team did a fantastic job minimizing what we do into bullet points to get the point about our service delivery across

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

We stayed entirely on budget; we only gave additional expenses when we changed or added something. For example, there was an additional cost when we asked them to do our logo and change some things after they completed the project scope. However, we talked about it ahead of time and agreed on a fee structure to move forward. From that standpoint, there weren’t any surprises. Also, they always met expectations and the deadlines we laid out.

We used Google Meet, phone, and email to document the changes we wanted. The situation dictated how we communicated, whether we had a meeting, a phone call, or sent emails back and forth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicated exceptionally well. They brought new ideas and were very thought-provoking. Straight North challenged us to think about our business and how we wanted to promote ourselves. We also changed our minds a few times regarding what we wanted on the website and what we wanted to add, and they were flexible with us.

In addition, they were reasonably priced for all the work they did and were extremely patient. We kicked off our engagement, and since a hospital system owns us, we had to pause the project for over a year and a half because we were all working in the hospital’s clinical settings to help with the pandemic. Nonetheless, they continued to follow up, and when the pandemic hit the second time, we returned to the hospital again. We finally reached the point where we could engage again on the project, and they were very patient with our team to complete this.

Overall, Straight North treated us with the same importance and respect as a large client, although we were a small service line. Sometimes it’s hard to get organizations to help us with certain services because we’re not as important in the grand scheme of things. However, they treated us as their only customer, which we greatly appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On the contrary, we really appreciated their patience. They didn’t give up on us despite the long delays we had. They followed up and made sure we could launch when we were ready to go.